HOMELESS GET CHANCE AT VOTING

Election board officials visited a Near West Side drop-in center Monday to begin registering street residents. It`s the first time that the homeless in Chicago have been allowed to register.

Twenty-six potential voters without homes were signed up Monday at the office of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners and at Cooper`s Place, 100 S. Desplaines St., a drop-in center that provides a place for the homeless during daylight hours.

''It means there`s hope for power,'' said Martha Whelan, vice president of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. ''You`d ask for help and aldermen would say, `Do they vote?` ''

Whelan, executive director of Deborah`s Place, a Near North Side drop-in center for women, said an all-out effort would be made to sign up the homeless next Tuesday, precinct registration day. It will be the only time anyone may register to vote before the Nov. 4 general election.

Monday was the last day potential voters could sign up at the board, in Chicago Public Library branches or with more than 5,000 deputy registrars.

''It may not effect this election, but by the mayoral election (the homeless) will be far more significant,'' Whelan said. Large numbers are expected to be registered in the central 1st Ward and the lakefront 46th Ward, which includes the Uptown Community.

Guidelines allowing the homeless to register were agreed to last week by the board and the coalition and ruled on by Judge Joseph Schneider, presiding judge of the County Division of Circuit Court.

Under the provisions, the homeless must ''provide the board a registration address or location description, sufficiently precise to enable the board to assign to the voter the appropriate precinct and ward numbers.'' If they list a location description, such as ''a large box on the northeast corner of lower Michigan Avenue and Illinois Street,'' they must also provide a mailing address, such as Cooper`s Place. The mailing address is needed to periodically verify the ''residence.''

Previously, the board had followed state law, which specified that a voter must have a ''permanent abode,'' effectively ruling out homeless people. ''Our concern is you have to give the people the right to vote, but you still need a method for following the Constitution and the Illinois statutes` election code,'' said Thomas Leach, a board spokesman. ''What this does is bring us in line with recent federal cases.''

Scott Shepard, one of two attorneys representing the coalition, said the homeless in other parts of the country have been allowed to vote, following court decisions and board rulings. Philadelphia and New York courts ruled on behalf of the homeless in 1984, as did the Washington, D.C., elections board. Last year, the California Appellate Court ruled that the homeless could vote, overturning a lower court decision.

''Under the Constitution, the fact that you can or can`t maintain a residence is not relevant for the right to vote,'' Shepard said.